SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Missouri State University first signed a contract with Bryan Student Housing LLC to build this residence hall in May 2018. The dorm is almost ready for more than 400 students to call home.

The university announced Wednesday that the dorm’s name is Heitz House, after John A. Heitz, a Missouri State University graduate, donor and successful real estate broker and investor.

Missouri State President Clif Smart said Heitz House is the university’s first public-private partnership with Bryan Magers, owner of Bryan Student Housing LLC.

“He approached us and wanted to design and build a facility and then sell it to the university. We thought that was an interesting way to do it. We worked with him and then purchased the facility from him last week,” Smart said.

President Smart said they agreed to the below-appraisal selling price, saving Missouri State lots of money.

President Smart also said Heitz House took a while to build for various reasons.

“Part of that was supply issues, labor issues, weather issues, and they had contractor issues. They changed general contractors in the middle of the project,” Smart said.

He said because of the pandemic and the reasons listed above. The dorm opened over a year later than when it was expected to open.

Although Heitz House is already full for the fall 2022 semester, Smart said the residence hall is open to any student, whether first-year, upper-level, international, etc.

Heitz House also has its own parking garage and dining hall located inside of it.

Smart said once university employees and residential advisors move in come August, the students will follow, and the brand new residence hall will officially be open.

If you would like to see what Heitz House looks like, visit Missouri State’s website.

To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com

Copyright 2022 KY3. All rights reserved.